The scope of the epistle compared and contrasted with that to
the Ephesians; the state of the Ephesian and Colossian Christians

The epistle to the Colossians looks at the Christian as risen
with Christ, but not, as in that to the Ephesians, as sitting in
heavenly places in Christ. A hope is laid up for him in heaven;
he is to set his affections on things above, not on things on the
earth. He has died with Christ and he is risen with Him, but not
sitting in heavenly places in Him yet. We have in it a proof of
that which other epistles demonstrate, namely, the blessed way in
which our God in His grace turns everything to the good of those
that love Him.

In the epistle to the Ephesians the Holy Ghost had developed the
counsels of God with regard to the church -- its privileges. The
Christians of Ephesus had nothing to be reproached with:*
therefore the Holy Ghost could use the occasion furnished by that
faithful flock to unfold all the privileges which God had
ordained for the church at large, by virtue of its union with
Jesus Christ its Head, as well as the individual privileges of
the children of God.

{*How painful it is to see this beloved church taken afterwards
as an example of the first love being lost! But all tends to the
end.}

It was not so with the Colossians. They had in some measure
slipped away from this blessed portion, and lost the sense of
their union with the Head of the body; at least, if it was not
actually so, they were assailed by the danger, and liable to the
influence of those who sought to draw them away from it, and
subject them to the influence of philosophy and Judaism, so that
the apostle had to occupy himself with the danger, and not merely
with their privileges. This union with our Head thank God!)
cannot itself be lost; but as a truth in the church, or of
realisation by individuals, it may. We know this but too well in
the church of the day we live in. This however gives occasion to
the Spirit of God to develop all the riches and all the
perfection which are found in the Head and in His work, in order
to recover the members of the body from their spiritual
feebleness, or maintain them in the full practical enjoyment of
their union with Christ, and in the power of the position gained
for them by that union. For us this is abiding instruction with
regard to the riches that are in the Head.

If the epistle to the Ephesians delineates the privileges of the
body, that to the Colossians reveals the fulness that is in the
Head, and our completeness in Him. Thus in that to the Ephesians
the church is the fulness of Him who filleth all in all; in that
to the Colossians, all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in
Christ bodily, and we are complete in Him. There is another
difference however, which it is important to remark. In the
epistle to the Colossians we do not -- save in the expression,
"love in the Spirit" -- find any mention of the Holy Ghost. He is
fully brought forward in the Ephesians. But on the other hand,
we have Christ as our life far more fully developed, of equal
importance in its place. In Ephesians we have more largely the
contrast of heathenism with christian privilege and state. The
formation of the soul in living likeness to Christ is largely
developed in Colossians. It is more, in the well-known
expressions, Christ in us than we in Christ, though these cannot
be separated. A further important difference is that in Ephesians
the unity of Jew and Gentile in one body holds a large place. In
Colossians the Gentiles only are in view, though in connection
with the doctrine of the body. These differences well noted, we
may say that the two epistles have a great resemblance in their
general character.